Change the situation or change the mindset

I tell you I am a strong believer that success and happiness are all about mindset. Your mindset and belief system affect everything in your life from what you think and feel to how you act and react to the world around you. In order to achieve your goals, your mindset needs to match your aspirations, otherwise, it might be holding you back from getting where you want to be.

The conversations you have with yourself are a direct reflection of your mindset. If you are telling yourself “I am not good enough to achieve my dreams”, your thoughts will create your reality and your mindset will hold you back from having the life you want. To upgrade your mindset, change your negative self-talk to an empowerment speech. Sounds cliché, but telling yourself “I can do this” or “I got this”, really works.

After changing your inner thought dialogue and the story you are telling yourself, change the way you talk to other people. Avoid phrases like “I am always like this” or “I am always doing this” for encouraging a growth mindset. Furthermore, make it a habit to talk about the things that are going well in your life instead of complaining and talking about your problems. This will encourage a mindset of abundance instead of fear and lack.

Pick a goal you want to achieve and ask yourself: “Which mindset do I need to achieve this goal?” and “Which mindset do people have that were successful at this goal?”. For example, healthy & fit people might share the mindset “I love taking care of my body, nourishing it with whole foods and exercising every day.”. If it’s your goal to be healthy & fit, act as if you already have the mindset of a healthy & fit person. This way, you are basically tricking your brain to adapt a new mindset and reinforcing it with action.

Read books from great minds to understand and adapt their thinking. Read books about how the mind and brain works. Learn from mindset experts through online courses, events and coaching. Want to upgrade your money & success mindset? Start hanging out with people that are very successful and seem to have an abundance of money flowing their way at any time. It is easier to adapt a new mindset when you see that it is already working for other people. Learn how they think and adapt their daily habits to match their mindset.

Integrate powerful habits into your day that help your mindset change and reinforce your thinking with action. If you are upgrading from “fixed” to “growth” mindset, schedule time for learning and start noting down your learnings and achievements every day. If you are upgrading from “destination” to “journey” mindset, practice being mindful, enjoying the present moment and celebrating small successes.

If you put yourself in situations that challenge you, you have no other choice than to rise to the occasion and upgrade your mindset. It becomes a necessity to survive. So ask yourself “What situations can I put myself in that will require me to operate on a higher mindset?”. Basically, the idea is to engineer your environment to train your brain! I am obsessed with the concept of growth mindset.

Ever since reading Carol Dweck’s book on this topic, I’ve completely changed my attitude about what the human brain is capable of. It’s a simple yet powerful distinction. There are two types of mindsets, fixed and growth. A fixed mindset is when you believe you’re born with a set of skills and abilities that are part of your DNA and cannot be changed, whereas a growth mindset is when you work on building new skills and habits continually over time.

For the past four years since my first heart attack, I’ve used my own life as a growth mindset experiment. It’s taught me so much! I’ve revamped my professional life and now love the work that I do. I’ve improved my personal life and started appreciating my friendships and partnerships. I’ve incorporated new habits like running, working out, going on morning walks, having a gratitude practice. And, most important to me, I write every day. posts and articles, on LinkedIn. Writing keeps me disciplined, focused, and motivated. It makes me feel the most alive! Cheers!